The present invention relates in general to a wick structure of a heat pipe, and more particularly, to a wick structure capably of providing enhanced capillary action and good attachment to a heat pipe.
There are lots of device used for transferring heat in the industry. A heat pipe is widely in the form of a tube with one closed end and one open end. A wick structure is installed in the heat pipe and a working fluid is introduced into the heat pipe, followed by the process of sealing the open end. When the heat pipe is in contact with the electronic products, the heat absorbing end absorbs the heat from the electronic products, such that a phase transition from the liquid state to the gas state occurs to the working fluid. After flowing to the cooling end of the heat pipe, the gaseous working fluid is then condensed back to the liquid state and re-flows back to the heat absorbing end by the capillary effect provided by the wick structure. Therefore, the circulation and phase transition of the working fluid irritated in the heat pipe provides enhanced heat dissipation performance, such that the electronic product can always operate under a uniform and working temperature.
However, the woven fibers of conventional wick structure have the same size. Therefore, both of good capillary force and well attaching capability providing by the wick structure can not be reached at the same time. That is because if the woven fibers of the wick structure are thicker, the wick structure provides weak capillary action. Alternatively, thinner woven fibers can provide good capillary action but can not provide good support to be attached on the internal sidewall of the tubular member of the heat pipe.
Thus, there still is a need in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.